October 27, 2008 Media contact: Jessica Brown
E-mail: brownjes@umich.edu
Phone: 734-764-2220

U-M Medical School receives $3.8 million grant for kidney research

U-M Medical School receives $3.8 million grant for kidney research Roger C. Wiggins, M.B., B. Chir., director of the George O’Brien Renal Center

Meet the expert:
Roger C. Wiggins, M.B., B. Chir.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has awarded the Division of Nephrology at the University of Michigan Medical School a five-year, $3.8 million research grant.

The O’Brien Kidney Center Core grant will be used by the departments of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology and Cell and Molecular Biology, as well as the Life Sciences Institute, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Statistics and the School of Education. The grant will further research and help to develop diagnosis, prevention strategies and treatments for people with kidney diseases.  

The U-M Medical School has received NIDDK funding for O’Brien Kidney Centers since 1988.  NIDDK conducts and supports basic and clinical research on diseases of the kidney. With seven universities across the nation receiving O’Brien funding, these Research Centers work to gain a greater understanding of kidney diseases and strive to design curative and preventative strategies. 

Roger C. Wiggins, M.B., B. Chir., director of the George O’Brien Renal Center at U-M, oversees a multi-disciplinary team of kidney researchers that focus on applying knowledge gained in basic science, genetics and systems biology to people with kidney disease. The grant will apply systems biology together with basic science research to identify new biomarkers that can guide diagnosis and treatment for people with kidney diseases. 
 
Wiggins works with patients with kidney disease at U-M, Wayne State University, St. John’s Hospital in Detroit and at the University of Illinois-Chicago and with the help of this grant the research team will build on the previous findings developed by the basic science work and apply it to patients with glomerular diseases.  
 
Funding previously helped to support the identification of a major mechanism by which the glomerulus fails in most glomerular diseases. The glomeruli are the filtering units found within the kidney that clean the blood. Glomerular diseases affect the filtration of waste products by the kidney leading to higher concentrations of blood and protein in the urine. Glomerular diseases result from a wide variety of diseases and can eventually lead to kidney failure if left untreated.
 
Glomerular diseases account for 80 percent of End Stage Kidney Disease.  ESKD costs approximately $20 billion per year to treat, by dialysis and kidney transplantation. In the United States, approximately 26 million people are affected by chronic kidney disease and many others are at a greater risk. Those with increased risk include African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Seniors. CKD is found in one and nine Americans and can be detected by one of three simple tests: blood pressure, urine albumin and serum creatinine.
 
For more information, visit these Web sites:
University of Michigan Health System, Division of Nephrology
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
The National Kidney Foundation
National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse